Taylor ISD gets low score: a D
Report cards released by the state that grade area school districts turned out to be a mixed bag in east Williamson County, with the Taylor Independent School District receiving the lowest rating — a D.
Grades received by other independent school districts are Thrall — B; and Coupland, Granger and Hutto — C.
Across Texas, more school systems received failing or lower grades than in past years, but many districts counter that’s because the state changed or revised its standards.
More than 120 school districts took part in lawsuits to prevent the Texas Education Agency from releasing the accountability ratings, but the state’s new 15th Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way to post A-F grades for the 202223 academic year.
The ratings, based on State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness tests and other factors, are still in legal dispute for 2023-24, officials said.
Taylor ISD Superintendent Jennifer Garcia-Edwardsen in a “State of the District” luncheon in March acknowledged that test scores were going to appear low.
She presented the plans she already had in place to foster strong community, parent and student relationships to enhance academic growth.
“We want to make sure that Taylor ISD is put in a proactive place,” she added.
Although the state did not publicly release the grades until April 24, TEA Commissioner Mike Morath has chastised Texas school boards, saying the lawsuits only forbid TEA from publicizing the scores, but districts could have released them earlier.
Jeni Neatherlin, superintendent of the Hutto Independent School District, sent out a letter to parents addressing the scores.
“These ratings reflect student outcomes from the 2022–23 school year, which to us is old data.
These scores were based on a revised accountability system that was far more rigorous than in previous years,” she said. “As a result, districts across Texas anticipated a decrease in ratings by an entire letter grade or more due to the changes. Ultimately, students and educators were not doing less, the bar had just been moved,” she added.
Morath in a prepared statement said parents and others should not have had to wait so long to learn how their districts are performing.
“For far too long, families, educators and communities have been denied access to information about the performance of their schools, thanks to frivolous lawsuits paid for by tax dollars filed by those who disagreed with the statutory goal of raising career readiness expectations to help students,” Morath said.
“Every Texas family deserves a clear view of school performance, and now those families finally have access to data they should have received two years ago.
Transparency drives progress, and when that transparency is blocked, students pay the price.”
Hutto was one of the districts taking part in the legal dispute against TEA.
State officials said the A–F accountability system, set up by the 85th Legislature in 2017, is designed to “provide clear and consistent information on how schools are performing in three key areas: student achievement, school progress and closing the gaps.”
An overall D rating can lead to state intervention but not a takeover, according to the TEA. Instead, the score can trigger sanctions and ultimately a takeover if a district receives a third consecutive D ranking.
Interventions can include the state appointing a conservator or an administrator to oversee operations, according to TEA.
